Phedippidations

The Podcasts

Today I want to talk about this trend for living like our “Old Stone Age” ancestors. What does recent science say about the benefits of minimalist running and the paleo-diet? Are these practices something that we, as runners, should adopt? Can “Paleo Running” and a “Paleo Diet” help us to live better, healthier lives?

Agriculture was a life changing advancement for early hominids. It allowed us to spend more time together, in ever growing groups, to develop a civilization that would expand to all continents of the planet Earth. You can try to live a Paleolithic, Mesolithic or Neolithic lifestyle if it suits you; but as Thomas Wolfe wrote “You can’t go home again”. We are no longer “hunter gatherers” we are worker runners. By virtue of your listening to this you have embraced a modern technology that our australopithecine ancestors from 2.6 million years ago could never have imagined. I don’t know if we should eat and run like they did…but maybe you were born out of time and might find some benefits to taking Thoreau’s advice to “simplify, simplify simplify”.

We shouldn’t dismiss Paleo eating and running just because it’s the current fad. Like any popular trend we should understand its benefits and try out certain aspects of it in our lives…so unlace your shoes sometime and try a short barefoot run, try avoiding the middle aisles of processed freeze-dried sugar coated consumables when you’re shopping for food and see what happens when you give up bread, rice, potatoes and non-green vegetables for a few weeks. You might channel your inner caveman and improve your health in a stone age way.

Links:

Melodious advice by Neil on Twitter @neilbearse

Both opening and closing themes songs were by Jim Fidler at jimfidler.com.

The song - Unfamiliar Sky was off the brand new soon to be released album “A Raven Has My Heart” by Black Lab. You’ll be hearing a lot about this album in the months to come. Paul Durham’s music has become kind of the soundtrack of my life. Listen in, love the sounds at http://blacklabworld.com